Tomorrow, a Canadian horror flick by
the name of Torment hits DVD and Video on Demand.
Shortly after Cory (Robin Dunne) arrives at his cottage home
with his son Liam (Peter DaCuhna) and new wife Sarah (Katharine
Isabelle), they are set upon by a group of masked invaders.
While it is true that there are
countless home invasion thrillers with masked antagonists out there,
Torment does what it does well. It was similar in structure to
one of my favourite thrillers Ils, but also possessed traits of its
domestic counterpart The Strangers, as well as The Hills Have Eyes. The
trailer does make it seem a little torture porn-y, but I found Torment
distinguished itself from that by not lingering on the gore. It tried to focus, and succeeded to some degree, more on the visceral.
My main draw – and emotional
investment – was, of course, Katharine Isabelle. I've always loved
her wiry energy, and am glad she's making a comeback of sorts after
her turn as the title character in American Mary a few years ago. She
never really went away, mind you, but after seemingly being relegated
to TV one-offs and small parts in direct-to-video fare like Dark Days
and Rampage, she is back with a vengeance. With regular roles in
Being Human & Hannibal, and half a dozen other projects on the go,
the future looks bright. Isabelle was great in Torment and showed a more
intense range than we're used to seeing.
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Robin Dunne & Katharine Isabelle in Torment. |
I liked the look of this film, as well.
The family home location and the surrounding forest were a production designer's dream. I read that there were some lighting
problems, so director Jordan Barker had to use the darkness to his
advantage – one scene in particular in the cellar was very well
crafted. That's what they call a “happy accident”, folks.
Another plus was with it clocking in at
just under eighty minutes, Torment possesses very little fat. Again
much like the aforementioned Ils, it spends just the right amount of
time establishing the characters and then gets right to it. The “tormentors” motivations were just enough to be passable, and for every
stupid decision our protagonists made, there was also a good one. That's a
pretty good ratio by horror movie standards.
It will be tough for Torment not to get
lost in the glut of similar-looking titles, but if you are sifting
though your VOD menus this week – or should it someday reach
Netflix – give it a shot. It's gritty, brisk and, perhaps most
importantly, homegrown.
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